Part of this dominance was due to its styling unit led by Harley Earl. Market share and design features fed on one another, forcing other carmakers to at least pay strong attention to GM's designs. Happy days on Detroit's West Grand Boulevard.
Suddenly, change happened. Chrysler Corporation's new 1957 designs created under the leadership of Virgil Exner were sensationally successful, whereas new-for-1957 GM designs were comparatively heavy looking. It seemed that the once-magical Harley Earl touch was gone (note that he was nearing compulsory GM retirement age when those design were gestating).
Today's post considers styling of GM's Buick brand during those years of reacting to the collapse of styling dominance. As the headline notes, the introduction of completely new bodies was rapid, given that three or four year production runs per body design were typical for the corporation during the first two thirds of the 1950s.
Buicks were radically redesigned for the 1954 model year, a futuristic (at the time) feature being wraparound (panoramic) windshields. These cars sold well during the body's three-year production run. Then came the '57 redesign that was less exciting than Chrysler Corporation's new 1957 offering. So Buicks were given a crash facelift for '58. And the 1959 model year saw GM launching another redesign.
As things turned out, Chrysler's post-1957 facelifts resulted in weaker sales. Meanwhile, General Motors styling remained in the doldrums until 1961, when Bill Mitchell, Earl's successor, was able to create new designs.
Cars pictured below are all four-door sedans to facilitate comparisons. Examples of 1954 and 1955 Buicks are included for some historical context.
This is the least-sexy model of the very futuristic (as of release date in the Fall of 1953) new design. Buick Specials and Centurys were based on GM's B-Body.
This model year's Buicks received new grilles and revised rear fender tips.
Again, another new grille. Rear wheel openings are enlarged, rounded.
Harley Earl's unfortunate new design. The A-pillar is more crisp, but the the rest of the greenhouse is heavy-looking -- especially the backlight window segment dividers (seen in profile here).
Here is the massive facelift that was a crash-reaction to the 1957 Chrysler Corporation design. Front and rear ends were redone (not seen in this profile view). Lots of new chrome. Real wheel opening reverts to '54-'55 style. The large spash in the rear fender zone does not relate to the traditional (at the time) Buick Sweepspear also seen in the images above. Tasteless. Especially coming from a styling studio that once led the industry.
Special and Century names were replaced for '59. This is the new body with Chrysler-inspired tail fins. A lot less unnecessary chrome decoration. Interesting sculpting, but not a very successful design. As mentioned, Bill Mitchell's influence did not really kick in until the 1961 models arrived.
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